UNIVERSIDAD TÉCNICA PARTICULAR DE LOJA La Universidad Católica de Loja
ESCUELA DE CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN MENCIÓN INGLÉS
MODALIDAD ABIERTA Y A DISTANCIA
A DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS OF ANGLICISMS USED IN ECUADORIAN NEWSPAPERS
AUTOR:
SANDRA PASTORA ALZAMORA CRIOLLO
DIRECTOR:
Mgs. GINA CAMACHO MINUCHE
CENTRO UNIVERSITARIO GUAYAQUIL
CERTIFICATION
……….
CERTIFIES THAT:
This research work has been thoroughly revised by the graduation committee. Therefore, authorizes the presentation of this thesis, which complies with all the norms and internal requirements of the Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja.
Loja, ………
……….. . THESIS ADVISOR
CONTRATO DE CESIÓN DE DERECHOS DE TESIS DE GRADO
“Yo, Sandra Alzamora Criollo declaro ser autora del presente trabajo y eximo expresamente a la Universidad Técnica particular de Loja y a sus representantes legales de posibles reclamos o acciones legales.
Adicionalmente declaro conocer y aceptar la disposición del Art. 67 del Estatuto Orgánico de la Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja que en su parte pertinente textualmente dice: “formar parte del patrimonio de la Universidad la propiedad intelectual de investigaciones, trabajos científicos o técnicos y tesis de grado que se realicen a través, o que el apoyo financiero, académico o institucional (operativo) de la Universidad”.
Srta. ………. AUTORA
AUTHORSHIP
The thoughts, ideas, opinions and the information obtained through this research are the only responsibility of the author
Date: ………
... Author
DEDICATION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABSTRACT
This thesis was made in order to determine the influence of anglicisms in Ecuadorian newspapers. The title given to this research proposal was A DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS OF ANGLICISMS USED IN ECUADORIAN NEWSPAPERS. This research was carried out in the city of Guayaquil. Three newspapers were used for this project: “El Universo” a national newspaper, “El Expreso” a local newspaper, and the tabloid “El Extra”. In the same way, the sections used for this investigation were: News, Ads, Reports, Social pages, and Sports.
In order to carry out the current research the Bibliographic, the Analytic and Descriptive methods were applied. The Bibliographic method was used in order to gather the scientific material necessary for the theoretical frame. On the other hand, the Analytic and the Descriptive methods were used in order to do the descriptive and statistical analysis, and for the interpretation of the data gathered through the whole investigation.
INTRODUCTION
The topic of this research work is related to the anglicisms used in the Ecuadorian newspapers. The influence of English in the structure of Spanish language is referred as anglicism. The topic of anglicisms is broad and does not only affect the Spanish language but they are also pervasive in most languages all over the world. Wen-Chung (2008) affirms that after the Second World War, the impact of English has been stronger. The influence of English started in the 20th century around the world, and Ecuador was not the exception. In our country it is frequent to find anglicisms in the newspapers.
Some previous studies mentioned that in the 17th and 18th centuries the first investigations about anglicisms were developed. These investigations showed that the first anglicisms came from England. In the same way, Madariaga (1966) affirms that two of the countries most deeply affected by anglicisms are Mexico and Puerto Rico. He also mentions that the rest of the countries of South America and Spain could follow the same direction. Nevertheless, the First Congress of Hispanic Institutions affirmed that the Spanish language has well constructed grammar and phonetics which make it resistant to foreign influence.
has not been enough research on this subject in the past. All previous studies show investigations made in other countries, but do not mention works made in Ecuador. Thus, studies made by authors from other countries were very important to this research. In order to carry out this research it was necessary to use three different Ecuadorian newspapers: “El Universo”, “El Expreso”, and “El Extra”. This research shows us that in Ecuadorian newspapers the use of borrowed words is very common and sometimes affects our language. On this investigation we will realize that each time newspapers prefer to use anglicisms instead of Spanish words, it became a big problem because in Ecuador people usually accept borrowed words easily and this causes people to forget the correct use of their native language.
On the other hand, this research was made in order to
totally achieve the following specific objectives:
To determine the level of influence of the English language on the linguistic expressions used in Ecuadorian newspapers. Concerning this objective, this research determined that the level of influence of anglicisms in Ecuadorian newspapers is high because I found a total of 518 anglicisms in the newspapers investigated.
To identify syntactic and lexical anglicisms more commonly used in newspaper material in Ecuador. Concerning this objective, this research determined that the words full, mail, laptop, fútbol, and call center were the most frequent anglicisms found in all variables.
To make a deep analysis of the anglicisms found in Ecuadorian newspapers regarding etymological, syntactic-semantic and morphological aspects. It was discovered that the origin of each anglicism also determined the changes of each word in the Spanish language.
newspapers were Ads and Sports sections; in the Ads section 441 anglicisms were found, while 41 anglicisms were also found in the Sports section.
To know the level of acceptance Ecuadorians have on the use of anglicisms in newspapers. Regarding this objective, my research work shows that the acceptance of anglicisms among Ecuadorian people is high because of the influence of technology, sports and the beliefs of people regarding foreign trends.
METHODOLOGY
The development of this research started in October 2009. According to the Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja the theme chosen for the present investigation was A descriptive analysis of
anglicisms used in Ecuadorian newspapers.
The first step to carry out the present research was the revision of the existing literature regarding this topic. In this case, a deep bibliographic investigation when searching for information on the topic was necessary. Sources such as books, journals and the Internet were useful tools for gathering information. All this research was carried out in Guayaquil, and it concerned a descriptive and analytical field research.
of seven days: from November the 2nd of 2009 to November the 8th of 2009. The sections selected for this research were News, Ads,
Social Pages, Reports, and Sports.
After I finished collecting the sample, the following step was to interpret the obtained results. To achieve a deep analysis of the samples found, the use of the following techniques were necessary: Note-taking, to collect bibliographic information; direct observation, to gather first-hand data; and finally, interviewing two journalists and two readers in order to analize the acceptance of anglicisms in our society. Then, with the help of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary it was possible to determine which words were genuine anglicisms.
RESULTS
This investigation focuses on the theme of anglicisms found in Ecuadorian newspapers. In order to carry out this research, three
QUALITATIVE TABULATION Chart One
Variable: National Newspaper “El Universo” Subvariable: News
Anglicisms Examples Word Title of article Date repetition
number
Resort El complejo esta 1 Decameron 02-11-09 ideado bajo el alista apertura
concepto de un de Hotel. resort y centro de
convenciones.
Fitness El hotel tendrá 1 Decameron 02-11-09 Center 300 habitaciones, alista apertura
restaurantes,.pisci- de Hotel. nas, fitness center
entre otros.
Express Conductor fue 3 Tres horas 02-11-09 víctima de detenido.
secuestro express
Barber Yordi Cadena, 1 Emergencia por 07-11-09 Shop dueño de un racionamientos,
barber shop, negocios en mantuvo abierta apuros y con la puerta de su temor.
negocio para que entre algo de luz.
Online El diario „El Clarin‟, 1 El mayor 08-11-09 de Buenos Aires, ataque en la
denunció en su democracia edición online que
desconocidos en vehículos robaron ejemplares del diario.
Chart Two
Variable: National Newspaper “El Universo” Subvariable: Ads
Anglicisms Examples Word Title of article Date repetition
number
Laptop Laptop Dell. 25 Technology 02-11-09 Servicio técnico
Call center Se solicitan per- 16 Jobs and 03-11-09 sonal para call Services
center.
Full Chevrolet full 255 Automobile 04-11-09 equipo
New Computadora new 3 Technology 05-11-09 de remate.
Club Vive tus beneficios 14 Markets 05-11-09 con el club de
lectores
Loft Vendo departa- 1 Real State 07-11-09 mentos de tres
dormitorios y loft listo para habitar.
Mail Enviar datos al 41 Jobs and 08-11-09 mail: Services
Penthouse Vendo Penthouse. 4 Real State 08-11-09
Hostess Sushi bar requiere 1 Jobs and 08-11-09 hostess. Services
Look Cambia tu look 1 Markets 08-11-09 con el club de
lectores.
Broker Personal solicita 2 Jobs and 08-11-09 broker de seguros Services
Chart Three
Variable: National Newspaper “El Universo” Subvariable: Social Pages
Anglicism Examples Word Title of article Date repetition
number
Stand Diseñarán imágenes 1 Pintoras 02-11-09 representativas del nacionales
País en el stand del llegarán a Ecuador. Londres
Filme El filme del cantante 5 Filme 08-11-09 superó los 100 millonario
Author: Sandra Alzamora
Chart Four
Variable: National Newspaper “El Universo” Subvariable:Reports
Anglicisms Examples Word Title of article Date repetition
number
Action Prevén pintar en 1 Muestra de 02-11-09 Painting vivo utilizando el arte.
estilo action
painting.
Chat Para Katty es 2 Los emoticones 04-11-09 imposible pensar al desnudo.
la vida sin chatear. por celular
Test Test de manejo. 1 CTG utiliza pista03-11-09 de escuela para
Chart Five
Variable: National Newspaper “El Universo” Subvariable: Sports
Anglicisms Examples Word Title of article Date repetition
number
Ranking Nico se aseguró 2 Nico, 02-11-09 55 puntos que vicecampeón en
le permitirá esca- Sao Paulo lar posiciones
en el ranking ATP
Inning Yankees 2-0 en 3 Yankees, cerca 03-11-09 el primer inning. del título.
Strike Debí hallar la 1 Polideportivo 04-11-09 manera de lanzar
Strikes.
Catcher Giraldi logró tres 1 Polideportivo 06-11-09 títulos como
cátcher.
Singles El tenista chileno 1 Australia es la 08-11-09 Nicolás Massú meta de Massú
obtuvo uno de sus mejores re- sultados con su equipo de la Copa Davis al conquis- tar los dos puntos en singles.
Fútbol El último partido 10 Toño juega 08-11-09 del campeonato clásico de lujo
Chart Six
Variable: Local Newspaper “Expreso” Subvariable: News
Anglicisms Examples Word Title of article Date repeptition
number
Bypass Agripac entregó 30 1 En los Ríos se 05-11-09 tanques plásticos inicia campaña
en el campamento de clasificación del equipo camio- de la basura. nero, ubicado en
el baypass de esa ciudad.
Laptops Pequeños empre- 2 Pérdidas suman 07-11-09 sarios se traslada- $ 1.7 millones
ron con sus por hora. laptops a los cen-
tros comerciales por la restricción eléctrica.
Stock El stock de 1 Cenace prevé 08-11-09 combustible es que el estiaje
Chart Seven
Variable: Local Newspaper “Expreso” Subvariable: Ads
Anglicisms Examples Word Title of article Date repetition
number
Full Nissan, full equipo 34 Automobile 02-11-09 nuevo modelo
Call center Call center solicita 2 Jobs and 05-11-09 bachilleres. Services
Software Instalacion de 4 Jobs and 06-11-09 Software y redes. Services
Laptop Laptops, impresora
Chart Eight
Variable: Local Newspaper “Expreso” Subvariable: Social Pages
Anglicisms Examples Word Title of article Date repetition
number
Staff El evento estuvo 1 Yambal presentó 03-11-09 dirigido a los su nueva medios de comuni- fragancia.
cación y staff de la compañía.
Best seller Esta es una inte- 1 Harrison Ford 04-11-09 ligente adaptación se presume
del best seller de inocente Scott Turow
Field day La Unidad Educa- 1 “La Moderna” 05-11-09 tiva “La Moderna” organiza su día
prepara su field de integración y day, acto realizado diversión. anualmente
Remake El actor estrenó el 1 Jim Carrey llevó 05-11-09 Remake del la Navidad a
Cuento de Navidad
. en Londres.
Showman Enrique Iglesias 1 Juan Gabriel 06-11-09 comparó la forma terminó cantando
del gran showman sobre las mesas de la música lati- en su fiesta de
na con los Beatles. los Grammy
Staff En esta primera 1 Damas de la 06-11-09 edicción, cuyo Armada
staff lo integran lanzaron su las esposas de primera edición los oficiales, con- de “Timonel”
tiene importantes temas.
Chart Nine
Variable: Local Newspaper “Expreso” Subvariable: Reports
Anglicisms Examples Word Title of article Date repetition
number
Hobby No cree que a 1 Víctor González, 05-11-09 sus 70 años se historiador de
dedique de lleno epidemias. a su hobby de
publicar libros.
Snacks Nueva marca 2 Incomodidades 04-11-09 de snacks en de la hora “pico”
la parada en la Metrovía. de la metrovía
Counter Comenta Ana 1 Aerolíneas se 04-11-09 Rodriguez, counter consideran en
de una agencia de crisis. viajes.
Fashion Las relaciones 2 Un mes para 08-11-09 business públicas son una el recuerdo
parte fundamen- tal en el fashion business.
Baby España tiene casi 1 La generación 08-11-09 boom 8 millones de „Peter Pan‟
treintañeros naci- esta
dos al final del hipotecada. Baby-boom
Estrés No solo ayudan a 2 Belleza y salud 08-11-09 reducir el estrés.
Link En su página web 1 Ecuavisa pre- 05-11-09 el canal ecuato- para el progra-
riano Ecuavisa ma „Mi papá es mantiene abierto el mejor‟
un link donde se invita a los ciber- nautas a inscri- birse en el con- curso.
Chart Ten
Variable: Local Newspaper “Expreso” Subvariable: Sports
Anglicisms Examples Word Title of article Date repetition
number
Amateur El gerente de la 1 Las mujeres 03-11-09 asociación de exigen profesio-
fútbol amateur nalismo. de Pichincha aclaró
que el torneo pro- fesional femenino no consta con un carácter mandato- rio.
Roller se apoderó del 1 Intrépidos tri- 06-11-09 título en la colores gana- categoría roller ron en el
“Xtreme Playas”
Wild card Mariano Zabaleta 2 Tenis de alto 06-11-06 recibió una wild nivel se obser-
card. vará en el V Challenger.
Fútbol La escuela de 9 Copa Expreso 08-11-09 fútbol.
Chart Eleven
Variable: Tabloid “El Extra” Subvariable:News
Anglicisms Examples Word Title of article Date repetition
number
Night club El night club “The 5 Incendio devoró 03-11-09 Place” ardió en conocido night
horas de la ma- club del centro drugada de ayer
de Guayaquil.
Bar Los dueños de 1 En Guayaquil 08-11-09 Bares dijeron ahora la farra
que participarán se acaba de una marcha temprano. pacífica
Author: Sandra Alzamora
Chart Twelve
Variable: Tabloid “El Extra” Subvariable: Ads
Anglicisms Examples Word Title of article Date repetition
number
Full Nissan, full equipo 34 Automobile 02-11-09 nuevo modelo
Call center Call center solicita 2 Jobs and 05-11-09 Bachilleres. Services
Laptop Laptops, impresora
Chart Thirteen
Variable: Tabloid “El Extra” Subvariable: Social Pages
Anglicisms Examples Word Title of article Date repetition
number
Show Los asistentes 2 Nueva soberana 04-11-09 disfrutaron de un de Bucay.
sensacional show.
Look Completamente 2 Karina, regresa 05-11-09 renovada y con a la música.
nuevo look, llegó la cantante
Author: Sandra Alzamora
Chart Fourteen
Variable: Tabloid “El Extra” Subvariable: Reports
Anglicism Examples Word Title of article Date repetition
number
Mail Se puede verificar 1 “¡Cuando 03-11-09 por los mails y mataron a Ana
llamadas tefefó- yo no estuve
nicas que hubo en Guayaquil!” una comunicación
fluida.
Récord La expedición no es 1 ¡Un suizo que 04-11-09 de resistencia y viaja en “Bici”
menos aún un x el amazonas! récord mundial.
Estándar Con estándares de 1 El prodigio de 05-11-09 calidad internacio- las manos de
nal, su industria los artesanos. manufacturera,
Chart Fifteen
Variable: Tabloid “El extra” Subvariable: Sports
Anglicism Examples Word Title of article Date repetition
number
Fútbol Pero el fútbol no se 15 Técnicos, 03-11-09 gana con abrazos deudas y
y estrechones de mentiras. manos.
QUANTITATIVE TABULATION
Chart Sixteen
Variable: National Newspaper “El Universo”
Section f %
News 7 1.76%
Ads 363 91.21%
Anglicism Social Pages 6 1.51%
Sports 18 4.52%
Reports 4 1.00%
Total 398 100%
Author: Sandra Alzamora
Chart Seventeen
Variable: Local Newspaper “Expreso”
Section f %
News 4 5.40%
Ads 41 55.41%
Anglicism Social Pages 6 8.11%
Sports 13 17.57%
Reports 10 13.51%
Total 74 100%
Author: Sandra Alzamora
Chart Eighteen
Variable: Tabloid Sensacionalista “El Extra”
Section f %
News 6 10%
Ads 37 61.67%
Anglicism Social Pages 4 6.67%
Sports 10 16.66%
Reports 3 5%
Total 46 100%
The Most Frequent Anglicisms (in all variables)
Chart Nineteen
Anglicisms Word repetition number
Full 323
Mail 42
Laptop 29
Fútbol 29
Call Center 20
TOTAL: 443
Discussion
This section includes three following aspects: the theoretical background, the description and analysis of the results and a list of the main conclusions this research work draws me to. First of all, the theoretical background refers to concised bibliographical information; its content is presented based on themes relevant to this research work. The theoretical background consists of the revision of the existing literature regarding this topic. In addition, in the description and analysis of the results section, the data gathered is interpreted logically and correctly to determine genuine anglicisms and to identify if changes occurred when using it in the Spanish language. Finally, the conclusion section includes main findings about anglicisms based on evidence presented during the whole investigation.
Theoretical Background
phenomenon called anglicisms is affecting the language in our country. Ecuador is not a sole example where anglicisms are very frequently used nowadays, each day more and more people use English words than in the past.
Language
A brief summary published by 24 Hours High School in 2004, concludes that language is a complicated system and sometimes people forget its correct use. The functions of Language are: informative function, expressive function, directive function and executive function. Informative function relates to the principal function of a language that is to communicate ideas by using propositions which are expressions that confirm or deny a main idea, often used to describe our daily world. On the other hand, an expressive function is used to describe our personal emotions and for sharing our feelings and aptitudes by empathy. The next function of language is the directive one, which is used with the purpose of getting an answer or result. The last function of language is the executive function which is a synthesis of all the above functions.
Most recently, Burneo (2008) pointed out that language is a system of sounds and meanings for human communication through vocal symbols that enables human beings to communicate with others in order to express ideas, feelings, intentions and the like by means of a structurated arrangement of sounds into utterances, or their written representation into morphemes, words, phrases and clauses.
Linguistics
difference between linguistic competence and linguistic performance. Linguistic competence is the innate knowledge that people have about their language; linguistic performance is the usage of a language by people in specific instances. Chomsky cited in Saville-Troike (2006) says that: “The nature of speakers –hearers‟ competence in their native language can be accounted for only by innate knowledge that the human species is genetically endowed with”, in this sense, the innate knowledge is the language faculty that is physically represented in the brain and in the part of biological natural quality of the species.
Branches of Linguistics
Due to the complexity of linguistics as a subject it is necessary to divide its study on different subfields. So, according to Burneo (2008) the principal branches of linguistics are: phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics; each of them focusing on different issues and being distinguished from each other due to a specific study of the aspects of language.
Phonology
science branch of linguistics, which studies the speech sounds in general according to their production, composition, distribution and function within the language”. Also, Espinoza mentions that Phonology has two branches: Phonetics and Phonemics. Phonetics studies the the production and articulation of speech sounds and it is subdivided into three branches: Acoustics Phonetics, Auditory Phonetics and Articulatory Phonetics. In the same way, Phonemics studies the distribution and function of sounds in the language. All those subfields in pholonolgy help Linguistics to determine changes in the morphological system of languages.
The British Library website (2009) mentions that Phonology changes. Phonological changes are produced for several reasons. In some cases, older people have different pronunciation than younger ones, depending on environmental and social settings. Stanley (2002) considers that in the case of anglicisms phonological changes occur because in English there are several sounds that in the Spanish language do not exist. Thus, when a Spanish-speaking person uses a neologism, he or she usually adapts it to a Spanish pronunciation that changes its correct pronunciation.
Morphology
languages. Ziegler (1996) states that it is necessary to know about some rules by which new words are added to a specific language, he mentions that the words are formed by morphemes. Morphemes could be roots, prefixes, suffixes, infixes, and circumfix; the latter two are not common in English. First, infix morphemes occurs when they are inserted into another whole morpheme, and circumfix morphemes occurs when both prefix and suffix are required to complete the morpheme. Second, root also called stem morphemes may be free or bounded; the roots are free when they have meaning by themselves, and the roots are bound when they do not have meaning by themselves. Thus, Ziegler (1996) believes that it is crucial that all morphemes have a grammatical structure attached to them because sometimes affixes may change the grammatical meaning of the word.
prefix or suffix. Sometimes derivational affixes do not necessarily modify the syntactic category, but they rather modify the meaning of the base. However, in many cases, derivational affixes change both the meaning and the grammatical structure of the word. Derivation depends on a particular word and not all words can carry the same prefix or suffix. According to the author, the compounded words contain lexemes that join two or more roots, in order to create a new lexeme. In the same way, the Wikipedia encyclopedia (2009) mentions that a compound is a word composed of more than one free morpheme. Compounded words may be hyphenated, written solid (closed), or written open (as separate words). The hyphenated form refers to a simple combination of words joined by a hyphen or hyphens. The hyphen is a mark of punctuation that not only unites but also separates the components of words. A solid (closed) compound combines two or more words into one solid word. Finally, the encyclopedia mentions that an open compound is a combination so closely associated that they convey the idea of a single concept but are spelled as unconnected words.
Syntax
together to form phrases, clauses and sentences.” Syntax is a part of grammar based on specific rules that people have to follow in order to combine words into sentences with a correct order of phrases, clauses and sentences. It mainly focuses on order and agreement among words to express meaning. According to Burneo (2008) the most important part of the language is grammar, because it deals with structure and function.
On the other hand, Zagona (1988) explains the differences between English syntax and Spanish syntax. In this regard, the subparts of verbs in English can be null while the corresponding subparts of verbs in Spanish cannot. Also, in English, people distinguish auxiliaries from main verbs and in Spanish the division between main verb and auxiliary does not exist.
structural description required to create grammatical sentences in a particular language.
Semantics
Language is not only related to structures but mainly to meaning. According to Encarta (2009), semantics is the part of grammar that studies the meaning of words, phrases, and sentences. Semantics could be studied from three different kinds of perspectives: Philosophical, Linguistics, and General. The philosophical perspective has to do with the process that establishes meanings. Perspective linguistics deals with the elements of meanings and how they work within the linguistic system. It is subdivided into two parts: descriptive and theoretical. Descriptive semantics concentrates on the study of the meaning of signs of a determined language. Theoretical Semantics is about the general theory of the meaning; it is an intrinsic part of the linguistic competence that all people have. General semantics is related to the study of how the meaning affects the speech of people and their activities.
words which are spelled in a similar way have different meaning. Also we find some differences identifying synonyms, antonyms, and names, which are parts of a class of words in semantics. Names usually refer to the unique object and, in English they are never accompanied by an article when preceding them. Nonetheless, sometimes it is necessary to use it with the object to clarify its meaning. In the same way the author mentions that words change with time and somehow these changes affect the meaning of the word.
Finally, words could have an expansion or alteration in its meanings. Expansion in context occurs when an extra meaning is added to a meaning already established, and alteration in context is the change in the meaning of the word.
Pragmatics
behavior. Andersen (2001) affirms: “Pragmatics to do with language use, the functional properties of linguistics forms, and the ways in which utterances are comprehend in context”.
Morphological procedures
adjectives, and nouns. According to Malmkjaer (2002) affirms that “Inflections morphemes are added when all derivational and compositional processes are already complete”. However, Marchand cited in Malmkjaer expresses that the formation of words involves full linguistics signs such as: compounding, prefixation, suffixation, derivation by the zero-morph; and that there are also formation of words not involving full linguistics signs which includes expressive symbolism. Marchand also notes that the difference between inflection and derivation is that inflections occur very slowly over time, and that the new derivational affixes occur once in a while.
Historical Linguistics
developed from a common ancestral language. Crowley (1996) sustains that:
For historical linguist, on the other hand, the fact that languages
may have mingled because of the political conquest or that
language may give some indication of how national identities are
formed, is of no consequence either; since for the historical linguist
the aim is to trace the history of a language, and of language in
general, in the sense of recording the changes which have taken
place through time. This is the significance of Saussure‟s choice of the term „diachronic‟ instead of „historical linguistics‟ or „evolutionary linguistics‟.
Language change
Language change occurs when writers and speakers modify the way
they use a language. Holmes (2008) thinks that speaker innovation is one of the factors that produce language change. Sometimes the speakers innovate by themselves, or by emulating speakers from other communities. In a period of time, these innovations ultimately produce linguistic change. There are three important ways that cause language variations: over time, in physical space and in social space. Regional and social variants provide the principal reason for language change over time. The influence of media makes people, unconsciously or consciously, to change the language. Many of these changes could last a short period, but the problem takes place when some of them persist
and become incorporated into the standard dialect.
What is more, language change could spread in the following ways: from group to group, from style to style and from word to word (Holmes 2008); the factors that affect the spread of change from group to group are: age, status, gender and religion. Language change spreads from style to style, especially from a more formal speech to a more casual speech. Language change spread from word of mouth, sounds changes spread through the usage different words at a time because this sound changes occur first in one word, and then the on following one.
changes over time: vocabulary, sentence structure and pronunciation. She assures that vocabulary tends to change quickly as new words are borrowed from other languages, or as words are modified (combined or shortened), although sometimes these words are only created by mistake. She says that changes in sentence structure happen slowly and these changes are produced because the grammatical rules of languages are not the same. In the same way, Collins and Mees (2003) affirm that pronunciation change occurs because speech habits stem for geographical and the chronological, or that the changes goes from one area to another and from one generation to another one.
Language Vice
grammatical constructions that make people feel confused about their meaning. The lack of vocabulary, which is another language vice, has to do with the constant use of the same words when people do not know that there are other words with the same meaning. Espinel (2009) in his article about Languages Vice writes that Americanism, Anglicism, Archaism, Neologism and Vulgarism belong to this group.
Neologism
Neologism happens in every language. According to Bustos (1986) Neologism is the way by which the langue is increased and they born out of the creativity of the native speakers. For Alvear (2005) the use of neologism could be a problem in communication. He considers that its use is necessary in order people to be refreshed with new words. These definitions are shared by Bustos and Cabré (1992), they believe that a neologism is created out of the need to name concepts and these newly created words are usually more descriptive and longer than single words; neologisms grow at a stable rate and that is why they remain. On the contrary Justel (2009) thinks that it is necessary the use of neologism when there are not other equivalent words in the Spanish language, in this case neologisms enrich languages.
Barbarisms: Anglicism
barbarism is a term of Greek origin which refers to anything foreign. Barbarism is an error of Morphology. Also, the Royal Spanish Academy dictionary (1992) defines barbarism as a word or expression considered grammatically incorrect.
In addition, Wen-Chung (2008) states that after the Second World War the impact of the English became massive. Anglicisms are pervasive in most languages all over the world. Anglicism is defined as an influence in a direct or indirect way of the English language over Spanish, and it affects the lexical, semantic, syntactic and phonetics structures of the receiving languages. Filipovic cited in Bugarski (2000) says that anglicism is a word borrowed from the English language. In the transference process the English word is adapted by the receiving language and integrated into its linguistics system. As it usually happens, when there is a need to fill empty spaces in our vocabulary as when in Spanish we do not have an equivalent word that could be correctly translated and so the only way is to borrow these terms from another language. The analysis of anglicisms shows that some of them have been borrowed from languages other than English. Stone and Lopez according to Wen-Chung (2008) define anglicisms as English words or from other languages that are inserted into Spanish via English.
causes: Linguistics and Extra-Linguistics. The linguistics causes are produced by the lack of words in the Spanish language with the same valence of the English words; there are several linguistic reasons for the use of anglicisms. People use anglicisms in order to avoid a wrong translation into Spanish. In the same way, anglicisms are used in order to pronounce taboo Spanish words since in many cases their translation into Spanish contains vulgar connotation. Moreover, anglicisms are used in naming general topics with the purpose of making feel comfortable by this kind of words or to refer specific things. Wen-Chung proceeds in pointing out the Extra-linguistics causes applied to the social, cultural, historical, and economics aspects. They all depend on demands of the person who uses anglicism. Two of the extra-linguistics motives are snobbery and pedantry. Another reason for the use of anglicisms is because there is not an equivalent word in Spanish. In his book, Rodriguez (1999) cites that anglicisms are used in reference to inventions, and that they are very useful in the marketing field to catch the attention of customers; also, Hope cited in Wen-Chung (2008) writes that anglicisms are also used as an argotic function to indicate words in a specific subject.
anglicisms are built by only one word and they inserted every day into Spanish in their original form. Along with Univerbal anglicisms there are also multilexical anglicisms that cover all the phraseological systems of both languages, more specifically by the placing of syntactic anglicisms when Spanish borrows from English only a part of the meaning.
Wen-Chung points out that there are Lexical anglicisms and they are tightly connected to words and syntagmas of English with their own orthography and semantics, but also that these words can be transformed and integrated to Spanish. They are classified as: anglicism lexical patent, neologism and English‟s acronyms; Rodriguez (1999) considers that the Anglicism lexical patent are the most frequent in Spanish, and that they are subdivided into nominal, adjectival and verbal.
Also, Rodriguez goes on to that the adaptation of an anglicism has to follow some stages; at the beginning an anglicism is used in their original way and is written between quotations or in cursive fashion next with their correct translation. Then, the anglicism can be modified to Spanish or maintain their raw form and after that, the anglicism could disappear or could be accepted in the Spanish language in its form.
According to Villavicencio (2004) Spanish is a broad language that
agrees that as technology advances, our language advances too. All languages are changing due to the influence of the media, songs, movies, etc; Avila (2002) deduces that nowadays it is necessary to use borrowed words because some words are expressed and pronounced better in English than in Spanish.
Foreign Language Interference
different forms but with the same meaning. Another type of interference can happen in words or sentences that have the same meaning but different form and distribution, and also that they could have the same or almost the same meaning but different form, and the last type of interference is related to the words that have similar form but different meaning.
Newspapers and Tabloids
Language applied in newspapers has a great influence on societies, for this reason, it is important to define previous concepts of what a newspaper is. According to Wikipedia (2009) a newspaper is a publication that is presented daily or weekly; the publication of a newspaper contains a variety of news, general information, advertising, and articles about political events, businesses, crime, art/entertainment, society, and sports. A newspaper also contains an editorial page with columns that permit the writers express their personal opinions. In addition, García (2001) infers that the newspaper is the oldest organ of the media; the first newspaper was published in 1630 in France. The main objective of a newspaper is to transmit information and opinions. In order to understand a newspaper it is necessary to read it correctly.
tend to exaggerate the news such as crime. Tabloid also has gossip columns specialize in scandalous events about the personal life of famous people.
Previous studies
Description and Analysis of the results
This section contains the linguistic, comparative and sociological analyses of some anglicisms found in the following newspapers: “El Universo”, “El Expreso” and “El Extra”. The analysis is made on the basis of the selected samples of each newspaper.
For the linguistic analysis the etymology of ten chosen anglicisms of each newspaper are analized. In the same way, the syntactic-semantic and morphological changes of each word in the Spanish language are analized.
Furthermore, in the comparative analysis the variables and subvariables are compared in order to show the real influence of anglicisms in the above-mentioned newspapers.
Linguistic Analysis
This part has been written in order to achieve a deep analysis of the samples found. Ten anglicisms of each newspaper investigated were selected; after the selection of the anglicisms, I analized each one of them. This analysis was made taking into consideration the etymology of the words, syntactic-semantic context, and also the morphology of each anglicism found. It is important to mention that the Merriam-Webster Dictionary determined which words were genuine anglicisms.
Variable: National Newspaper “El UNIVERSO”
Resort
habitually to some place or to have recourse. In the news section, the following example was found:
“El complejo está ideado bajo el concepto de un resort y un centro de convenciones.”
The word resort in this example is used as a noun and in this case it refers to a place that provides recreation and entertainment to vacationers. In this case, the semantic aspect is not affected. This word has not had any morphological changes, either. In Spanish there is not an exact word with the same meaning; for that reason the use of this anglicism is necessary. In fact, according to Filipovic cited in Bugarski (2000) an anglicism happens when there is a need to fill empty spaces in our vocabulary and when in Spanish we do not have equivalent words for their correct translations.
Express
obsolete: expressly. The word express as a noun means a message sent on a special errand or a dispatch conveyed by a special messenger. Another meaning implies that express is a system for the prompt and
safe transportation of parcels, money, or goods at rates higher than
standard freight charges. Finally, the word express has a function of a transitive verb meaning delineate, depict. One of the examples of this word was found in the news section:
“Conductor fue víctima de secuestro express.”
In the above example the word express is used as an adjective, the meaning of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary means traveling at a high speed, especially travelling with few or no stops along the way. This word here means something that happened faster. In this case the sematic aspect is not affected. In the same way, this word has not had any morphological change either. However, the use of this anglicism is unnecessary because in Spanish there is an equivalent word with the same significance: rápido. According to Granda (2010) at times it is not necessary the use of anglicisms because after all Spanish is a broad language that has enough words and they should be used instead of the anglicisms that affect it.
Online
create a new lexeme, and this compound word is formed by a preposition+noun, ON+LINE. The Merriam-Webter Dictionary mentions that On comes from the Middle English an, on, preposition & adverb, from the Old English; akin to the old High German ana on, Greek ana up, on. Line comes from the Middle English; partly from the Anglo-French lingne, and from Latin linea, from femine of lineus made of flax, from linum flax; partly from an Old English line; akin to the Old English līn flax. This word has two main grammatical functions, as an adjective
and as an adverb. As an adjective, online means connected to, served by, or available through a system specifically from a computer or telecommunications system (such as the Internet). As an adverb Online means done while connected to such a system, (central computer or computer network). The following example was found in the News section:
“El Diario „El Clarin‟ de Buenos Aires, denunció en su edición online
que desconocidos en vehículos robaron ejemplares del diario.”
technological term with no equivalent word in the Spanish language and its translation could alter its meaning.
Loft
This word is not accepted by the Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy. According to Merriam Webster Dictionary, this word comes from the Middle English, and from the Old English, air, sky, as well as from Old Norse lopt; akin to the Old High German luft air. This word has two grammatical functions: as a noun and as a verb. As a noun this word means an upper room or floor, an attic. Also it is used in reference to a gallery in a church or hall or to one of the upper floors of a warehouse or business building, especially when not partitioned. The word loft as a verb on the other hand, means to place, house, or store in a loft. Another of its meanings is to hit a ball in a high arching path; keep something in loft. The following was found in the Ads.
New
This word is not accepted by the Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy. According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, this word comes from the Middle English, and from the Old English nīwe; akin to the Old High German niuwi new, Latin novus, Greek neos. In English this word could be an adjective or an adverb. As an adjective, it means having recently come into existence: recent, modern, of recent origin, production, purchase, etc. As an adverb, new means newly or recently; it is usually used in a combined form such as:
“Vendo computadora new de remate.”
The word new in the example above, is used as an adjective and it pertains to something of recent origin, production or purchase. This word keeps the same meaning in both languages, so there are not semantic changes in it. New is written the same way in English and in Spanish. The use of this anglicism is unnecessary because in Spanish we have an equivalent word meaning the same: nuevo. In addition, this anglicism as in the example above affects our language in a negative form because it nullifies its use.
Test
testum earthen vessel; akin to the Latin testa earthen pot, shell. This word has three main grammatical functions: noun, adjective, and verb. The word test as a noun means a critical examination, observation, or evaluation. It also means the process of submitting a statement to such conditions or operations as will lead to its proof or disproof or to its acceptance or rejection. Another of its meaning is that a test is a series of questions or exercises for measuring the skill, knowledge, intelligence, capacities, or aptitudes of an individual or a group. The word test as an adjective is used as relating to or constituting a test; also: subjected to, used for, or revealed by testing. Finally, the word Test as a verb means to put to test or proof: to try. Also it is used to as to undergo a test; to be assigned a standing or an evaluation on the basis of tests. The following example was found in the Reports section.
Example:
“Test de manejo utiliza la Comisión de Tránsito del Guayas.”
Spanish the inflections of the word test are: testear (verb), testado (adjective), testar (verb), and tests (noun).
Club
This word appears in the Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the word Club comes from the Middle English clubbe, and from the Old Norse klubba; akin to the Old High German kolbo club. This word can be utilized in two functions as a noun and as a verb. Club as a noun means a heavy, usually tapering staff especially of wood wielded as a weapon. Another meaning for this word is the association of people that pursue a common interest, usually jointly supported and meeting periodically. On the other hand, the word Club as a verb means to beat or strike with or as if with a club. It also means to unite or combine for a common cause. The following example was found in the Ads section.
“Vive tus beneficios en el club de lectores El Universo.”
formation of plural words in the Spanish language, such as adding “es” at the end of the noun. In contrast, the plural of club in English is
clubs. Club is an anglicism that has no equivalent word in Spanish; according to Wen-Chung (2008) an anglicism usually happens when there is a need to fill empty spaces in our vocabulary an when in Spanish we do not have equivalent words for their translations. This theory is proved in the word club and fills an empty space in the Spanish language, for that reason this word is already been accepted by the Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy.
Chat
example, the word chat refers to write via cell phone. This term is frequently used in Spanish. The word chat in Spanish also means an online conversation. The word Chat has been adapted to the Spanish language and as in the former example the word chatear shows us an inflection (morphological change). Malmkjaer (2002) affirms that linguistics inflections is an alteration of the words by the way of morphemes according to a grammatical category to express their different functions in the sentence, using another kind of affix in order to form variants of the same word. Consequently, chatear is an inflection of the word chat, and it has a morphological change because this word is written that way in Spanish but not in English.
Stand
This word is already part of the Spanish language and it has been accepted in the Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary the word stand comes from the Middle English, and from the Old English standan; akin to the Old High German stantan, stān to stand, the Latin stare, and the Greek histanai to cause to stand, set, histasthai to stand, be standing.
or staying in one place. Another meaning is a place or post where one stands. Finally, it means the place taken by a witness when testifying in court. The following was found in the Social Pages section:
“Diseñarán imágenes representativas del país en el stand del Ecuador.”
Here, the word stand is used as a noun. In English the main grammatical function of this word is as a verb. In Spanish the word
stand is used only as a noun, as in the above-mentioned example. In this case, there is a semantic change since in English stand as a noun means the place or post where one stands, whereas in Spanish the meaning of this word pertains to an exhibition area. Stand does not change its morphological form, for stand is written in the same way both in English and in Spanish.
Film
This word has been accepted by the Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the word Film comes from the Middle English filme, and from the Old English filmen; akin to the Greek pelma sole of the foot, the Old English fell, skin.
This word has two main grammatical functions: noun and verb.
Another meaning as a verb is to make a motion picture of or from. The following example was found in the Social pages.
Example:
“El filme del cantante superó los 100 millones.”
In this example the word filme is used as a noun and it means motion picture: Movie. In this case, there is no semantic change for this word means the same meaning in Spanish and in English. This word is written in Spanish as it is written in the Middle English: filme. In Spanish, film is written as filme due to its phonology. According to Stanley (2002) concerning anglicisms, the phonological change occurs because in English there are several sounds that do not exist in Spanish. In Spanish there is no correct pronunciation for words that finish with two consonants (without a vowel), as in the last example “lm”. On the other hand, the word filme in Spanish language has some inflections. According to Bauer (1983) an inflection refers to the process of adding inflectional morphemes to a word, which indicate grammatical information. The inflections of this word in Spanish are filmes, filmación,
filmó.
VARIABLE: LOCAL NEWSAPPER “EL EXPRESO”
HOBBY
hobel, hobé. Hobby only functions as a noun and means an activity or interest pursued for pleasure or relaxation and not as a main occupation. It is also used to describe a child hobbyhorse. I have taken an extract from Reports sections.
Example:
“No cree que a sus 70 años se dedique de lleno a su hobby de publicar libros.”
In the example above the word hobby is used as a noun and it is defined as an activity that makes someone to feel relaxed and pleasant. The activity is referring to the publishing of books. Regarding this meaning, there are no semantic changes, the meaning does not change from the English to the Spanish language. This word does not have a morphological change either since it is written the same way, in Spanish as in English. The plural of hobby is written the same way in both languages: hobbies.
Staff
responsible for the internal operations of an institution or business. On the other hand, the word staff as a verb means to supply with a staff or with workers, or to serve as a staff member. The following example was found in the Social Pages section.
“El evento estuvo dirigido a los medios de comunicación y staff de la compañía.”
In this example the word staff is used as a noun. In English this word as a noun is defined as the officers chiefly responsible for the internal operations of an institution or business. In Spanish, according to the Dictionary of the Real Spanish Academy staff is a group of employees charged with carrying out the work of an establishment. In this case, there is a semantic change. As to its morphology, the word
staff does not have a morphological change since in Spanish this word is written the same way as in English language.
Field Day
In the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, field day is shown as a noun and its meaning is a day of military exercises or maneuvers. Another definition is a day of sports and athletic competition. The word field day also denotes a time of extraordinary pleasure or opportunity. The following example was found in the Social pages sections.
“La Unidad Educativa “La Moderna” prepara su field day, acto realizado anualmente.”
In this example, the word field day as a noun means a day of sports with athletic competitions. It does not have a semantic change; therefore, it maintains its meanings in both languages. There is not any morphological change in it because this word is written similarly in Spanish and in English. Field day is a compound word. According to the Wikipedia encyclopedia, field day is an open compound word because it is a combination of words so closely associated that they convey the idea of a single concept but, spelled as unconnected words. This compound word is formed by two nouns field+day.
Remake
mahhōn which means to prepare, make, and the Greek magēnai to be
kneaded, also from the Old Church Slavic mazati meaning to anoint, smear. The word make has two main grammatical functions: as a verb and as a noun. The word remake has two functions: as a noun and as a verb. As a verb, remake means: to make a new or in a different form. As a noun remake means refers something that is made again; such as a new version of a motion picture. The following sample was taken from the Social pages section.
“El actor estrenó el remake del Cuento de Navidad en Londres.”
The word remake in this example is a noun. This word has a derivation. According to Bauer (1983) derivation is the creation of a new lexeme based on another one before created. It could be a prefix or a suffix. Sometimes the grammatical structure does not change but the meaning does, in latter example the meaning of make has been affected by the prefix re, the word remake is formed by the prefix re + make. In Spanish this word means the same as in English. Therefore, there is not semantic change not a morphological nature either.
Showman
This word does not appear in the Dictionary of the Royal Spanish
look, look at, see; akin to the Old High German scouwōn, to look, look at, and probably to the Latin cavēre, to be on one's guard.
This word has two main grammatical functions as a verb and as a noun. On the other hand, the word man comes from the Middle English, and from the Old English man, mon human being, male human; akin to the Old High German man human being and from the Sanskrit manu. The word man is a noun. Concerning the word showman (together) has a specific function and meaning. The word Showman functions as a noun and its meaning is the producer of a play or theatrical show. Another meaning is that of a notably spectacular, dramatic, or effective performer. The following example was found in the Social pages section.
“Enrique Iglesias comparó la forma del gran showman de la música latina con los Beatles.”
Snacks
Snack does not appear in the Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy yet. In the Merriam-Webster Dictionary the word snack comes from the Middle English snak, bite from snaken to bite, perhaps from the Middle Duch snacken, to snap at. This word has two grammatical functions: noun and verb. As a noun snack means a light meal: food eaten between regular meals; also: food suitable for snacking. The word snack as a verb refers to eat a snack. The following example was found in the Reports section.
“Nueva marca de snacksen la parada de la Metrovía.”
In the example above the word snack functions as a noun. In this example, snack refers to food typically designed to be portable, quick and satisfying. In Spanish the word snack has somewhat more ample meaning, whereas in English snack is used to describe a light meal: food eaten between regular meals commonly available at home. However, in Spanish and especially in the example above, the word snack means foods designed to be more durable and more appealing than prepared foods because they contain substantial amounts of sweeteners, preservatives and appealing ingredients. The word snack is written the same in Spanish as in English even the plural version snack does not have a morphological change.
Estrés
Spanish Academy. This word comes from the English word stress. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary the word stress is defined as coming from the Middle English stresse stress, distress, short for
destresse. Stress could be a noun or a verb. The word stress as a noun means a constrain force or influence: as a force exerted when one body or body part presses on pulls on, pushes against, or tends to compress, twist another body or body part; specifially: the intensity of this mutual force commonly expressed in pounds per square inch. While, stress as a noun means a physical, chemical or emotional factor that causes bodily or mentally tension and may be a factor in disease causation. This word is also used to refer to an intensity of utterance given to speech sound, syllable, or word producing relative loudness. Stress as a verb means to subject to physical or psychological stress, it also means to subject to phonetic stress. The following example was found in the Reports section.
Example:
“No solo ayudan a reducir el estrés.”
